


you were such a perfect storm

by spookysp_ace (summermoonsdawn)



Series: osaaka week 2020 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst-ish?, Blood and Injury, It's not that bad I swear, Kinda?, Link in notes, M/M, Mermaid! Akaashi, Near drowing, Non-Graphic Violence, Pirate!Osamu, That was an Accident, all of Inarizaki are pirates, i do NOT go into details, lyrics from the same song, no one dies though?, there was a previous tag that said "i do go into major details", there's one mermaid and it's Akaashi, title from "hurricane" by anson seabra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summermoonsdawn/pseuds/spookysp_ace
Summary: osaaka, day 5 || fantasy ||-Meeting a mermaid was even more rare than their existence.Right?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Miya Osamu
Series: osaaka week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922587
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68
Collections: Osaaka Week 2020





	you were such a perfect storm

**Author's Note:**

> y'all this could have been so much more, so i'm so sorry if it feels... brief. and short.
> 
> _PLEASE_ listen to [hurricane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32360rlk9ew) by anson seabra
> 
> two more days left. day six is gonna be.... interesting to say the least. and day seven is almost done anyways so JSDHSJKDF
> 
> once again!!! please enjoy!!
> 
> (JSHFKSJDF AND THANK YOU DARCY FOR THE QUICK BETA <3 go give @Not_MrDarcy on twitter some love. she's amazing y'all

⎈

_ Oh, you were my hurricane _

_ 'Cause in your eyes, I felt so safe _

_ And in them, I found shelter from the storm _

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  
  


The fire as Inarizaki was engulfed in flames had been amber. It had licked the sky and choked the moon with its smoke. 

Osamu should have died. He knows that. He thought at the time as he stared up at the foggy moon that yes, he was going to die; and yes, he had accepted that. He’d been the only one onboard with Inarizaki anchored off port–the rest of the crew members, the captain and quartermaster had all rowed inland.

To be honest, Osamu doesn’t remember why he stayed onboard that night.

What he does remember was the water.

How it had lapped at his chest as he sunk just like the ship. The water–green, dark, murky. It was alive though, with the flames on top of it. He could feel the vibrations of gunpowder exploding.

He remembered green. The safety of silk green wrapping under his arms, just as the water filled his lungs. The shine of silver, though maybe that could have been the moon's eyes on him.

Scales.

He thinks, he remembers scales. Like a giant fish.

He’d been seventeen at the time.

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  
  


He’d woken up, on the sand of the nearby island–smoke still strong in the air, mingling with the stormy clouds moving in. Atsumu was peering down at him with panic.

Aran and Kita were peering from behind him–

“ _ Green– _ ” he’d whispered, before passing out again.

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  


Mermaids weren’t unheard of.

Their existence though was a semioccasional one that breached the surface of the seas in scattered moments. 

They were not just rare–they were aberrant as a total eclipse. They were a double hurricane on the tides, colliding.

  
  


Meeting a mermaid–was even more rare than their existence.

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


Right?

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


_ six years later _

  
  
  


There wasn’t a guide for being a pirate.

You stole, you got stolen from. You burned, someone burned you. 

If someone offered you money, you didn’t have the morals to question where the coin came from. Or who it had come from.

Or what body it was mooched off of.

“We were hired?” Atsumu asked. They, the crew of the Inarizaki, were sitting around a table in the crew’s quarters–a ship they’d managed to commandeer shortly after their last one had been burned to the tides.

Kita dropped two bags on the table in front of them. Gold coins poured out.

“Isn’t the whole point of, what we do, because we aren’t for hire?” Suna quipped behind them, though he slid around and poked a finger at the coins. They all watched as he brought one to the light and examined it.

Osamu, droopy eyed, leaned back in his chair. “Money is money.”

Atsumu narrowed his eyes at Osamu. He read Osamu better than anyone else on the ship–though living 23 years around each other would do that to you–and his look was determining. “Money is money? That’s not what ya said after our parents were killed in a  _ for hire  _ scheme.”

The air between the crew members dropped several degrees.

Osamu felt a slow anger rise in himself. An anger the other members noticed in an instant.

Kita hummed. “We’re taking this one job. After that last bust, we need this.”

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


_ While power lines were breaking free _

_ The maelstrom started shaking me _

_ The scars that you would leave began to hurt _

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


“Get in,” Kita said to Atsumu and Osamu. “Mingle with the crowd, keep your eyes on the prize. You’ll know it when you see it. 

“Why can’t we know what ‘it’ is?” Atsumu grumbled.

“Disclosure,” their captain answered. He handed both of them dark leather vests. They put them on over their black poet’s shirts, pulling the sleeves over the fox tattoos on their inner wrists. Afterwards, Aran handed them each a cloak, one gold and one silver–one for Atsumu and Osamu respectively. 

Osamu scoffed after he clipped on the cloak, it’s fabric light. He still felt weighed down. 

“We look ridiculous,” he said.

Atsumu knocked his shoulder against his own, “ _ You  _ look ridiculous, I don’t.”

“We got the same face, ya deck scrubber.”

“ _ Deck  _ scrubber? ‘Samu you–!”

Kita placed a hand on each of their shoulders, fixing them with a hard stare. 

“Don’t make this more difficult,” Ginjama said. His brows furrowed at the twins in that way that said he was already disappointed.

“Find it,” Kita said. “Keep your eye on it. After the celebration is over, come back. We’ll devise a way to retrieve it.”

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


_ Green. _

There was a tank in the middle of the celebration hall.

There was a celebration being held by some nobleman in his estate where it was said he would be showing off something “extraordinary.”

Extraordinary meant mermaid.

There was a mermaid swimming in a tank and the nobles were milling about as if the mermaid wasn’t the most exquisite phenomenon they had encountered before.

_ Green, green. _

The mermaid’s tail was dark, swirling, near black like their short hair. In the water, it was like silk. The bottom part of their fin, the broad and near translucent under the light, was almost silver. Further and further, closer to the skin of the mermaid, there were shining green scales. Around their waist it was once again close to being translucent–as if running fingers over it would be like dipping your fingers through gel. There were two other fins shimmering on the sides, as well as a small dorsal fin–all black, consuming like the night and a churning sea.

_ Green– _

Their face. 

Suddenly, Osamu was thrown back to six years earlier. __

_ The water crawling down his throat and filling his lungs like melted wax–until he couldn’t breathe anymore. Flames, rust against the black void of night. _

He sucked in a quick breath, chest heavy. Before he knew it, he’d made his way in front of the tank. The mermaid’s face was before him just as quickly. Emerald filled eyes like liquid the personification of green in a glass stared back at him. A finger lifted–human,  _ human– _ touched the face of the glass, right in front of Osamu's face.

Osamu watched the mermaid float, kept the sound in mind, the finger on the glass as if they were reaching out to touch Osamu.

They opened their mouth, stark red lips on a pale face parted. A sensation tingled the edges of his mind as the mermaid continued to press their finger on the glass. The fins on the side of their face flickered, fanning slightly to catch the light of the room. The gills on their throat constricted, before small bubbles left the mermaids mouth and–

“Mermaids cannot speak,” someone says from behind him.

The mermaid shut their mouth, eyes glazing over and turning their face away.

Osamu turns around, letting his eyes laze over the person–a nobleman. His blue coat was long, just like the white beard on his face. There were many reasons Osamu and Atsumu had turned to piracy; avoiding the white collared, gold carriers, was one of them. The most interaction Inzarizaki had with the nobles and the royal navy was to tickle the coins from their pouches.

The man gave Osamu the briefest of looks before turning back to the mermaid behind glass. “They’re primitive in that manner,” he said, like Osamu had asked him a question. Were all nobles like this? Asserting their position without concern for those around them?

Yes, they were. Osamu had once spent a month behind iron bars because some royal navy Commodore saw the fox tattoo on his wrist. For being a pirate, all you needed was that to be accused of anything.

“Primitive,” Osamu offered the other for conversation. They were here to capture this mermaid, and to do so, he would need to maintain the appearance of status. “How are we so sure they’re primitive–and not holding back by choice?”

The nobleman laughed. A big-bellied laugh that could have shaken the room. 

He placed his hand on Osamu’s shoulder and Osamu held back from shaking the man’s weighted hand off

“Why not?”

“Hmm?” the noble quiered.

“Speak, why don’t they–” Osamu caught himself with a sense of disgust filling his mouth, “ _ it,  _ why doesn’t it, or other mermaids that you know of, not speak?”

“Not sure. After this one has done it’s work, they want to run experiments on it.”

_ It. It. It. _

Osamu held back a scoff, and a glare to the nobleman. “Experiments?”

“Cut it open, see what’s inside,” the man said. He rubbed at his chin in thought, like his long beard would make the idea  _ better _ . “Who knows? It’ll be years before that though.”

“Right,” Osamu said, bitterness on his tongue.

  
  


⎈

  
  
  


The celebration ended and the noblemen and their companions were none the wiser as two foxes slipped further into the nest.

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


_ Oh, you were my hurricane _

_ 'Cause somehow the more time you stayed _

_ The damage just kept getting worse and worse _

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


“Where the hell were ya?” Osamu asked, finding Atsumu deeper in the estate. He had his rapier straight through a guardsman, but slipped it out when he heard Osamu.

“Ey,” Atsumu hummed, looking thoughtful. “Got caught by a crow.

Osamu raised his eyebrow in a way Atsumu could read as,  _ Did ya now? _

His brother grinned. “Don’t worry yer head about it.”

“Why would I ever worry about you?”

“Whatever, just find the mermaid so we can get outta here.”

“Ya don’t wanna run off with your crow friend again?”

“Shut  _ up _ ‘Samu.”

  
  


⎈

  
  
  


Nearly 10 minutes later he found a mermaid, in a chamber, in a bathtub, only–

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


The mermaid looked at him and their eyes said–

_ Green. _

  
  
  


⎈

  
  


“I need yer help,” Osamu said.

Atsumu raised his brows, hair falling over his face. “Why do ya think I'd help?”

He scoffed. “I never told Kita about the time you “met” that crow. And I won’t tell him about today either.”

Atsumu’s look was considering, before:

“What do you want? We're supposed to be lookin’ for––”

“A mermaid. I found them.”

“Um, we need to go back to the boat and tell Kita, then–”

Osamu grabbed Atsumu’s arm, keeping him from walking away. “We're not telling anyone anything.”

“What the hell do you mean we’re not  _ telling  _ anyone?” Atsumu’s eyes flared in a rush of anger. “ _ Yer  _ the one who said ‘money is money’ and now we’re here.  _ This  _ is because of you.”

The air between them is silent as Osamu stares, refusing to answer.

It wasn’t  _ truly  _ because of him. Money  _ was _ money, but the mermaid had  _ looked  _ at him and–

And sparks hadn’t flown.

But Osamu had remembered.

“I’m releasing the mermaid,” Osamu said simply, turning on his heel. He stepped over the bodies he’d taken care of–Atsumu’s steps were quick behind him.

Osamu easily found the bath chamber again. In the middle was the bathtub, white porcelain, with the mermaid perched inside. As Osamu entered, Atsumu paced with him, the mermaid peeked over the edge.

Atsumu’s steps stopped. His face did something complicated as he whirled on Osamu. 

He  _ growled,  _ grabbing Osamu by the front of his vest. “We don't  _ save _ people, 'Samu! What the hell are ya thinking?”

Osamu looked over at the mermaid staring back at them from the bathtub with eyes wide. They blinked slowly and cocked their head. “This isn't a person, technically,” Osamu said, “so it doesn't count.”

Atsumu pushed him away, till Osamu stumbled back towards the bathtub. A hand wrapped around his wrist–

The mermaid was looking up at him, their eyes almost glowing–like a bed of seaweed swaying.

He looked back to Atsumu, who was looking at the mermaid with disdain. “It’s ‘cuz they're pretty, isn’t it?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Osamu hissed.

Fingers– _ human  _ fingers–tapped on his wrist. The mermaid skin against his own was not unlike a humans–softed padded. It was like having treated gossamer press into him.

“Ten minutes,” Atsumu cautioned. “I’m headed to the ship. Ya have ten minutes till Kita knows. _Fuck,”_ he cursed. Then, he was out of the chamber, gold cloak tidaling after him. 

  
  
  


⎈

  
  


The mermaid lifted their arms around Osamu’s shoulders, wrapping their entire being into his own. There was a sudden press of his forehead against his own and–

  
  
  


Images–the ocean, water, dark, the deepest parts of it that no mortal, human, could ever fathom–flooded into Osamu’s skull. He inhaled as the images rushed, and the mermaid’s arms tugged around Osamu’s shoulders. 

_ Akaashi,  _ excitement rippled across his skin as the name fell across his body. He wouldn’t be able to say the name above water–there was no way ephemeralness could waterfall from his tongue.

Osamu though, with a mermaid in his arms, was beginning to believe that sometimes the  _ no way  _ would be the only part of living that someone could fixate on. If you couldn’t believe in the unbelievable, there wasn’t a piece of believability waiting for you. 

In his arms– _ Akaashi– _ shivered in the night. Without much thought, Osamu unclipped his cape, and the sliver of silver it was, from his shoulders, before placing it over Akaashi. 

Osamu lifted them and they were  _ heavy  _ with the weight of their tail lopping over his arms. The scales on their rear and their dorsal fin were smooth– _ silk, silk,  _ threaded samite–but also rough like a shark’s own skin.

“Okay ‘Kaashi,” Osamu whispered, “I gotcha.”

There was a thrum of  _ yes  _ across his skin and through his mind. A  _ please,  _ a desperate need, want, craving for  _ freedom. _

Osamu, as quick as the mermaid’s weight would allow him, led them past the bodies of guards Atsumu and him had already taken care of. Akaashi gave them a look that he translated as distaste and hatred.

They left the half-filled bathtub behind them.

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  
  


_ The sea was still, the sky was grey _

_ But now with no more hurricane _

_ There was nothing left for me to run from _

  
  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  
  


There was a pier right outside the estate–looking over the ocean–

_ Freedom, freedom, free,  _ Akaashi’s thoughts tingled over his skin.

Osamu took the mermaid to the very edge of the pier–he could hear voices from the estate, yells–but at the end of the pier he sat down with Akaashi.

The wood dug into his forearms as he tilted for Akaashi to be slipped into the foaming waters. 

There, Akaashi’s breath of relief fell in the space between the two of them. With the moon as their witness, Akaashi pushed themselves up on the wooded pier, before pressing their forehead against Osam’s own. 

_ Thank you _ , their thoughts said against your own.

But also,  _ Thank you–thank you. I would, in this life or another, weather storms for you. With you–anything, to save you again. _

Osamu wished to melt into the water alongside Akaashi and the forbidden depths.

The ocean before them was churning just like it was six years ago–waiting, calling. The flames of that night had long disappeared from the backs of Osamu’s eyes, but the greens of Akaashi’s gaze stained itself instead–permanent. It hadn’t left for over six years–why would it leave now?

Mermaids weren’t unheard of. Their existence was like touching the moon.

A mermaid was holding his face in their own, whispering thanks–Osamu felt like he was touching the moon, and it was caressing his skin in return. 

Akaashi slipped away, from his face, from his world, into the dark waters below. The cloak Osamu had slipped over he fell across the water, like a blanket for the sea.

Behind him there was a commotion of voices.

“Shoot him!” Someone yelled. Osamu noted it as the same voice of the nobleman he’d talked to at the celebration–the  _ owner  _ of Akaashi.

“He stole from me, shoot him!” He yelled again, voice crazed in the night. 

He turned from where he had kneeled on the dark wood of the pier. Running from the estate, high on the hill, were several naval officers, all with guns. Trailing behind them was the nobleman over the estate. 

Osamu raised his arms, with a lick of his lips, he gave a long stare back at the water. Before he gave his attention back to those who had guns and rapiers aimed at him.

He raised his arms higher, 

_ Bang.  _ A bullet flew past his face.

A hand reached out, pulling him back to the water–

_ Bang, bang _ –

_ Shit,  _ he cursed. Guns weren’t the best shot for the age–so why was it for the age that  _ this  _ bullet got him right through his lungs?

He heard someone screaming in the distance, yells of  _ “‘Samu!”  _ raising through the cloudless evening.

Atsumu? Why was Atsumu there? Hasn’t he gone back to the ship?

_ Splash. _

He fell into the water as another shot rang out–ricocheting off of the night’s wind.

Under the moonlight, the sky’s glacier, he stared through the rippling of the water, a white glare filming across his eyes as blood filled the water.

_ Blood?  _ He wondered, watching as it capered in front of him, darkening his sight of the cold water around him.

Akaashi’s hands cupped his face, dragging his lips to meet the red lips of a mermaid, and–

And he fell into the water, green silk wrapping around his body.

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


_ Oh, you were my hurricane _

_ 'Cause when you finally dissipated _

_ There was nothing left of both of us _

  
  
  


⎈

  
  
  


“Well,” Kita said from aboard the Inarizaki. “Ya know what they say about mermaid kisses.”

“I have no idea what they say about mermaid kisses,” Suna said offhandedly.

Aran shrugged, leaning over the edge of the ship, towards the pier in the distance. “Mermaids are supposed to have healing abilities in their kisses.”

“Magical spit?” Suna asked.

“Somethin’ like that,” Aran responded, smile bright. “Are we gonna get Atsumu?”

“He’ll be back,” Kita said with assurance. “He knows how to take care of himself.”

“And Osamu?” Suna asked.

“He’ll come back when he’s ready,” Kita responded. He smiled at his crew members, turning over his shoulder.

He yelled, with hands on his hips, “Raise the anchor!” 

  
  
  


⎈

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/spacedaichi)
> 
> thank you again everyone for reading. for everyone's previous comments on the other fics. sorry this one was a bit different?? i had a lot i wanted to do, but my brain was not working today.... my apologies... plis forgive me....
> 
> comments and kudos always welcome <3


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